AN ADVENTURE IN CALICO GHOST TOWN, CALIFORNIA

This shoot is a collaboration by Renata Amazonas, Amy Bjornson, Ashley Williams, Kim Egel, Tiana Gallagher, and Lindsay Vacek.

"Nothing to frighten children or adults. It is simply amazing, amusing, and confusing." So reads the sign above one of the establishments along Calico's main street, inviting all comers to a tour of a cunningly crooked house. It's the sort of attraction more commonly associated with amusement parks, but the sign is actually fairly accurate in describing Calico as a whole. There's nothing frightening about the place, but if you opt for a visit, there's every chance you may find the remains of this onetime boomtown "amazing, amusing, and confusing."

There's no argument that Calico is a real ghost town. Established in 1881, Calico produced $86 million in silver and $45 million in borax during its glory years. At its height, the town boasted a population of 1,200, 22 saloons, a "Chinatown," and a well-known red light district. When the price of silver plummeted in the 1890's, the town survived on borax revenues until its official death in 1907.

Calico's ghosts slumbered on its barren desert hillside until 1951, when a man named Walter Knott purchased the real estate upon which it sat. The same entrepreneur who founded Knott's Berry Farm, Walter Knott set out to make Calico not only amazing, which it was already, but also amusing, which is why if you visit today, you can tour a crooked house and witness a staged gunfight.

You can take a train ride, and you can look down over an expansive view of the Mojave Desert. Calico is a delightful patchwork, the product of a checkered past, all woven together into a sight worth seeing. It's right off Interstate 15 near Yermo, between Barstow and Baker. Are you heading for Death Valley or Las Vegas? Stop by Calico as you head east from Los Angeles, and prepare to be… amazed, amused, and confused. 

Wardrobe:  Free People  | Gull + Marie  | Kim Egel Jewelry  | Janessa Leone  | Luv AJ

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